Fighter
Fighters are masters of combat. They use their enhanced skill with weapons to adventure and are known to be able to master various combat techniques and skills at arms. Changes The fighter was a pretty sound class; it was simple, effective, and easy to multiclass with. We did, however, want to add incentive to single class further with a fighter, and we wanted to give them something that would make them better at fighting than a knight or a ranger, beyond the amount of feats they get. They needed something unique that would give them an advantage that could not be emulated by another class. *'Weapon Families:' Taken partly from Pathfinder and just partly from various house rules we've seen over the years, we decided to have fighters spcialize in a type of weapon family. Since most characters we'd seen picked a weapon and stuck with it their whole career, we felt that narrowing a fighter's focus did not hinder it at all, and would give them some nifty benefits along the way. Now, when an axe-fighter enters the fray, he's doing something with that weapon that no other warrior type character can do, not even another fighter who didn't specialize. That axe becomes that much better for them. In addition, each family has a secondary ability score (a la 4th edition) that enhances the use of it with weapon tricks (see next bullet), meaning that fighters need more than just Strength. Different combo builds like the finesse fighter or the charismatic warlord are possible with just one class. There are a few families missing from the list of specializations, and there are reasons for that. We left out bows because we didn't want to step on any toes of rangers; archery has always been their thing and we wanted to give them that. You'll also notice there is no unarmed specialization; we again didn't want to impede on other classes, and left that domain to the monk. *'Weapon Tricks:' Inspired by the Exotic Weapon Master prestige class (which was, what we felt, what a fighter should be doing standard), with a little help from the powers system of 4th edition, we decided to have fighters choose a few tricks along their career that they could do with their specialized family group of weapons. These tricks go beyond feats in that they are limited use powers that show off a fighter's raw power with weaponry. You can see them below! Class Features *'Weapon Family Focus:' A fighter is a master of weapons and their use. At first level, all fighters choose a family of weapons in which to become a master. Throughout a fighter's career, he will gain abilities that let him use weapons from his mastered family to great effect. Each family group has an associated secondary ability score that helps a fighter in the special abilities he might gain while using the weapons. Not all family groups are available for fighters. The available families that a fighter can specialize in are as follows: **''Axe:'' This family includes all hafted, bladed weapons. Ability score: Wisdom **''Crossbow:'' This family includes all variations of the mechanical bow. Ability score: Dexterity **''Curved Blade:'' This family includes sharp, curved blades like scimitars and falchions. Ability score: Intelligence **''Flail:'' This famils includes chained weapons, like the light flail and heavy flail. Ability score: Wisdom **''Hammer:'' This family includes weapons such as the warhammer or light hammer. Ability score: Constitution. **''Heavy Blade:'' This family includes the larger swords, such as the longsword and greatsword. Ability Score: Dexterity **''Heavy Polearm:'' This family includes reach based polearms like the glaive or the guisarme. Ability score: Wisdom **''Light Blade:'' This family includes smaller swords and blades, such as daggers, shortswords, or rapiers. Ability score: Dexterity **''Light Polearm:'' This family includes non-reach polearms like the halberd or the trident. Ability Score: Intelligence **''Mace:'' This broad family includes shafted bludgeoning weapons like maces and morningstars, and less refined weapons like clubs. Ability score: Constitution **''Pick:'' This family includes the light and heavy pick weapons. Ability score: Wisdom **''Spear:'' This family includes all variations of the humble spear. Ability Score: Dexterity **''Thrown:'' This family includes small weapons which can be hurled. Ability Score: Dexterity *Alternatively, a fighter may choose one exotic weapon that he is proficient with (by virtue of a feat, most likely) to specialize in instead of a weapon family. In this way, he may also choose a simple or martial weapon that does not have a family group, such as a quarterstaff or a lance. When a fighter attains a special ability related to his family, he gets that bonus when using any weapon in the given family. If a weapon has two families, he must use the weapon in the applicable fashion to get the bonus. For example, if a fighter specializes in light blades, he gets his bonuses when using a dagger in melee, but not if he throws it. *'Bonus Feats:' At first level and every even level thereafter, a fighter gains a bonus feat. These bonus feats can be any feat with the Fighter keyword. *'Weapon Trick (Ex):' At 3rd, 7th, 11th, 15th, and 19th levels, a fighter gains a weapon trick. This represents a special combat manoeuvre that a fighter can utilize a certain number of times per day. The weapon trick gained depends on a fighter's weapon group. The fighter can choose from any of the following tricks provided he meets the prerequisites. **Coming Soon! **Coming Soon! **Coming Soon! *'Weapon Training (Ex):' At 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th level, a fighter gains a weapon training bonus which applies to all weapons that he is proficient with in the chosen family group. The abilities are the same for all groups and are detailed as follows: **At 5th level, a fighter treats the critical modifier of any weapon in his group as one higher. For example, a fighter specialized in hammers would treat a warhammer's critical modifier as x4 instead of x3. The critical range remains unchanged. **At 9th level, a fighter treats the damage dice of any weapon in his family group as one dice higher than normal. For example, a fighter specializing in axes treats a battleaxe as a d10 instead of a d8. **At 13th level, a fighter treats the critical modifier of any weapon in his group as one dice higher again, stacking with his previous ability. For example, a fighter specialized in hammers would treat a warhammer's critical modifier as x5 instead of x3. The critical range remains unchanged. **At 17th level, a fighter treats the damage dice of any weapon in his family group as one dice higher than normal again, stacking with his previous ability. For example, a fighter specializing in axes treats a battleaxe as a d12 instead of a d8. *'Weapon Paragon:'At 20th level, a fighter becomes a supreme master of his weapon family and the art of combat. Whenever he rolls damage for a weapon in his family group, he rolls the total twice, choosing the best result. This ability only applies to the actual weapon damage. Extra dice from critical hits or magical weapons are not rerolled. **As it did at 5th and 13th level, a fighter's critical modifier with weapons in his family group goes up one more time. For example, a fighter specialized in hammers would treat a warhammer's critical modifier as x6 instead of x3. The critical range remains unchanged. **As it did at 9th and 17th level, a fighter's damage with weapons in his family group goes up one more time. For example, a fighter specializing in axes treats a battleaxe as a 2d8 instead of a d8. Category:Classes